GOAT UPDATE 9-25-25
Jose Altuve had 2 more hits today to get to 155 for the season and 2,387 for his career. In doing so, he passed Ryne Sandberg to take over #129 on the all-time hit list. As just about everyone knows, Sandberg died 2 months ago of cancer at age 65.
As a huge Astro fan in the 80s, Sandberg was mostly the guy who kept Billy Doran from starting at least 2-3 All-Star games. Doran was like the Houston Oilers of the late 70s. Really, really good, but in the same league as an All-Time great.
Most people don't know that Sandberg was actually NOT a career Cub. He was drafted by the Phillies and played 13 games with them at the end of the 1981 season. He was a 20th round pick from North Central HS in Spokane, Washington, and most thought he'd go play college football. He was an All-American QB and had signed an LOI to Washington State. The Phillies signed him for $20,000.
In his first year in the minors - 1978 - one of his teammates was George Bell - who like Sandberg would win an MVP in the 80s. Since neither of them won that MVP for Philadelphia, the point can be made that the Phillies had no ****ing idea what they were doing in the 80s.
Sandberg played shortstop in the minors and was a monster from the start. He hit .311 as an 18-year-old, and in 1981 jumped from AA to the majors. But then the Phillies said, hey, you know that we need to get back to glory? Ivan De Jesus. Let's trade 35-year-old Larry Bowa and this Sandberg kid for him. That seems like a good idea."
De Jesus hit .239, .245, and .247 the next three years and forgot how to steal a base. Then they traded him to the Cardinals in 1985 with Bill Campbell for Dave Rucker. I know a **** ton about baseball history and I have never heard of either of those guys.
Meanwhile, ol' Ryno went to the Cubs and won a starting job as a 22-year in 1982. He played 3B, SS, and 2B in those first few years. He scored 103 runs as a rookie and stole 32 bases.
In 1984, the Cubs briefly stopped sucking ass and went 96-65 and Sandberg had one of the most legendary seasons of all time, and one of my favorite stat wise.
With an 8.5 WAR, he hit .314, led the league in runs scored (114), recorded 200 hits, had 74 extra-base hits with the unique pattern of 36 2B, 19 3B, and 19 HR, stole 32 bases, and drove in 84. He was 24 years old doing that. On June 23, the "Sandberg Game' took place. The Cubs trailed the Cardinals 7-1, 9-3, and 11-9 but Sandberg hit a home run to tie it i the 9th, and another to win it in the tenth. Willie McGee hit for the cycle in defeat. The game featured 23 runs, 27 hits, and Sandberg was 5 for 6 with 7 RBI.
The Cubs were favored over the Padres in the NLCS, and Sandberg hit .368 for the series, but, well, it's the Cubs. They lost in 5.
The rest of the 80s, he was a stat beast. In '85, he hit .305 with 26 HR, 83 RBI, and 54 steals. In '89, he hit 30 HR for the first time at age 29 and led the league in runs score. He also dragged the Cubs back to the playoffs. That team had 23 year old Greg Maddux, Wild Thing throwing 76 games, and ROY Jerome Walton, who then vanished off the face of the earth. In the NLCS, Sandberg hit .400 with a 1.258 OPS in 5 games, and they got destroyed 4-1 by the Giants. That was the year Kevin Mitchell set the all-time Giants record for steroids that was later broken by Barry Bonds.
Sandberg surprisingly announced 1994 would be his last year. He was hurt and the strike cut the season short. He sat out all of 1995, which I'm sorry to say is also the year he got divorced. And then remarried a month later. And she was neighbors with the Sandbergs, so, that's not great, but it happens.
Anyway, at some point, Ryno said - I gotta get the Fuq outta here and returned to the Cubs in 1996, making things super awkward for Rey Sanchez, who was the 1995 starting second baseman.
The 1996 Cubs featured pre-steroids Luis Gonzalez, steroid novice Sammy Sosa, and captain ****** bag himself, Scott Servais. I actually saw that team play the Astros 3 times at Wrigley in August 1996 when I quit my first job and took a 3 week road trip to avoid responsibilitiy.
Ryno hung around for 2 more years, finishing with 2,386 hits, 403 doubles, 282 HR, 344 SB, and a .285 BA.
He made 10 All-Star games, won 9 Gold Gloves, and 7 Silver Sluggers. In 2005, he and Wade Boggs made the HOF together.
